OSR and good yarns

Now if it's yarns you're longin' for, I can tell you of two, maybe three - even me, I can read 'em with the pictures.

***

The first one's Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space. Here's Virgil Finlays' picture - there you see 'em - first hand witnesses of the 'gleaming, eruptive cataclysm" that shot-up from old Nahum's well!

[illustration by Virgil Finlay (1941), reprinted in the Annotated H.P. Lovecraft]

Folks say it was aliens. Before he died, old Nahum had said:

...it comes from some place whar things ain't as they is here...one of them professors said so...he was right. Look out Ammi, it'll do suthin more...sucks the life out...

***

Now, a mellower light glows in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Look here at Newell Wyeth's painting of Bill Bones, a buccaneer, hangin' 'round the cove, or upon the cliffs, with his brass telescope.'

 

[painting by N.C. Wyeth (1911), copied from Treasure Island, Antheneum Books for Young Readers]

It was Captain Bones who had the map - 

the map of an island...nine miles long and five miles across, shaped, you might say, like a fat dragon standing up...

And on the map, there was the three red crosses showing landmarks - and one was marked, 'Bulk of treasure here.'

***

Okay, I can tell one more, about Erol 'Bedpost' Arlen. Over near OneKeep, Bedpost Arlen cut timber in the day and missed details in stories he heard at night. So sleepy he got sittin' in the tavern. Here's Bedpost Arlen, just painted today.

[mini sculpted by Max Carr, Dunlending with Ax, Heritage Miniatures, 1978]

One night, walking up hills to his house, Bedpost tried hard but couldn't remember somethin' he'd heard - something about an old place near town, 'ghastly shrieks and eerie lights.' Tired, he clamored home, and off to sleep.

***

Thanks for reading.


Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2025 at 6:08 PM

    Sounds like we may have some stories coming up in Onekeep. Thanks for posting this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2025 at 6:35 AM

      I sure hope so - way over there, near the Mistral Sea.

      Delete
  2. DanJanuary 13, 2025 at 12:05 PM

    Tell me about the scene you made for Bedpost, is that snow???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 13, 2025 at 4:50 PM

      The scene is in my front yard. It finally snowed (3/4 inch), then got freezing cold and the snow was like ice. Next day, just before sunset, I finished the mini, took him outside, and took the picture in the direct, golden light, right. Didn't have time to get the varnish on him first, but still got him done before losing the light. Thanks for checking out the blog!

      Delete

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